of the pond beneath the ice. These he reaches 

 from his house by swimming beneath the ice 

 from the house to the food-pile. If the ice is 

 not covered by snow, it may, during a cold 

 winter, freeze thickly, even to the bottom, and 

 thus cause a starving time in the beaver colony. 



Deep snow appears not to trouble the "stu- 

 pidest animal in the woods," the porcupine. 

 A deeper snow is for him a higher platform from 

 which the bark on the tree may be devoured. 

 Rabbits, too, appear to fare well during deep 

 snow. This uplift allows them a long feast 

 among the crowded, bud-fruited bush-tops at 

 which they have so often looked in vain. 



The chipmunk is not concerned with ground- 

 hog day. Last summer he filled his underground 

 granaries with nuts and seeds, and subways 

 connect his underground winter quarters with 

 these stores. But heavy snows, with their excess 

 of water, flood him out of winter quarters in 

 spring earlier than he planned. 



One March at the close of a wet snow-fall I 

 went out into a near-by pine grove to see the 

 squirrels. One descended from a high hole to 



270 



